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Charles Moswathupha has been convicted of murder and rape.
- A Limpopo man was sentenced to three life sentences for the murder of two children and for the rape of one of the victims.
- He was captured in October 2019.
- The court did not accept his attempt to reach an agreement with the prosecution, which included his explanation that he was sorry and that he was intoxicated at the time of the crimes.
A Limpopo man was sentenced to three life terms in prison for the murder of Samson Sithole, 3 years old, and the rape and murder of Boitumelo Ramatsobane Matsekoleng, 6 years old.
The Limpopo High Court in Polokwane rejected his attempt to settle with the prosecution and his explanation that he was drunk at the time and regretted it.
Samson was killed on December 6, 2018, and his lifeless body was found with severe head injuries in the bushes near Koteng village.
Limpopo National Tax Authority spokesman Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi said that 35-year-old Charles Moswathupha from the Koteng infomal settlement in Marble Hall disappeared when he heard police following him.
He was captured in October 2019 after he raped and strangled Boitumelo in the village of Seregeng, Nebo.
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The villagers had turned to him and he had shown them where he had left her. She had been raped and was so seriously injured that she died after two weeks in intensive care. He was also attacked by an angry group at the time.
Died
The attempted murder charge she faced for the Boitumelo attack changed to murder after she died.
Malabi-Dzhangi said that after Moswathupha’s guilty plea and 28-year sentencing agreement were rejected, he entered a guilty plea and was found guilty of the charges.
Prosecutor Kgoputso Sekhukhune had alleged, to compound the sentence, that Moswathupha had killed defenseless children who regarded him as an old man who could protect them.
Sekhukhune argued that the crimes were heinous enough to justify the prescribed minimum sentence.
The director of the province’s Public Ministry, defender Ivy Thenga, welcomed the sentence and hoped it would send a clear message to potential offenders.
